Do as much as you can today. Tomorrow, do as much as you can then, but don’t focus on tomorrow until you are finished with today.
Tag: blogger
The “N Word”: A Wake-Up Call
Many of you have probably already noticed that I have no problem using the “N Word” on this blog. You have probably asked yourself why, “Surely she understands it’s history..?” Of course I do.
I figured since Obama just used it, which means it’s fresh in your minds, this is a good time to talk about it.
Here’s the thing:
Words have meaning. They are not idle and do not exist just because, but words always have and always will have meaning. In a recent post, I discussed the many titles placed upon black people in the attempt to define their nationality. I used words like Black, African (or Afro) American, Colored, Negro and I threw Nigger in there too. These are all bywords and proverbs and mockeries placed on us throughout our history here. They are proverbs and mockeries because they do not define who we are. (Duet. 28:37).
Logically speaking, all emotion aside, I’m going to put this as real as I only know how. Just as words are not idle, action is not either. Every thought, and every action means something. If you want people to stop using “The N Word”, then stop acting like niggas. Stop degrading yourself and your people by accepting ratchet behavior and slave like mentalities. When you know something is wrong and you continue to do it, that is disobedient behavior and only niggas and thugs and hood rats are disobedient. Stop accepting mediocrity and then calling it racism. Now I am no fool, I know there are tons of Europeans who use this word with every intent of harnessing the spirit of slavery. This is why it hits hard with blacks because people feel it in their spirit, and in their bones, that the tone in which some use it is a mere shadow, a reflection, of the generational racism in which many have been raised. Time doesn’t matter, there are still white people who are racist and they don’t want to admit it. I understand that. But not all of our white brothers and sisters are racist, we need to understand that too.
Everyone must be held accountable for their actions and the results they incur. If a slave is released from his chains and yet he stays in the same spot, then you cannot blame the slave master if the slave refuses to free himself. If you want other people to stop making mockery of you then show them a different you. I’m not saying bigotry is OK, for racism and discrimination has never left the fabric of America and that is hard for some people to believe. But as for us, to be given something different you have to show something different. I don’t call my friends niggas and my girlfriends are not my bitches. In addition, I refer to my people as brothers and sisters unless they have otherwise shown me something different. I give respect to those I love and to people who have shown me respect.
When I said, in a recent post, “We will not be niggas too much longer“, I meant that we will no longer exhibit wild and disobedient behavior; we will not rob and steal and oppress one another. The Pookies and Ray-Ray’s will rise to be the prophets and priests they were chosen to be and their names no longer associated with wildness but with the fear that is respect and the strength that comes along with it. That is what it means to no longer be niggas. Not that everyone will erase the N word from their vocabularies and racism will magically disappear.
I’ll end with this: a person cannot change his name if he wishes not to also change his actions. The whole purpose of name changes is to exhibit the characteristics of this new name, thereby becoming a new person. If you want to get rid of the “N Word”, you have to first get rid of the behavior associated with it and this cannot be done by always placing the blame on someone else. In the words of Carter G. Woodson:
“When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his proper place and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
– Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro
When We Were Colored
I…
I remember when we were colored.
Proud I was of this “African American” staring me in the face.
Cause see
no one could tell me
that even if this dark skin could travel many seas
I couldn’t sniff a whiff of this American dream.
My skin tone a mere distraction
stacked tall with affirmative action of pity and lost hope
Back then,
when none of these psychotic nurses could tell us
that we were only colored because of the curses.
And this is not just my story
it’s his-story
when we were colored
and our minds were locked down,
enslaved with some of the heaviest chains of emancipation
but ask a group of students who look like me
about the father of many nations,
and I guarantee you zero participation.
Cause we were colored
And when you’re colored the truth is blinded by reflections
visions of spiritual malnutrition
and pretend faiths that we are afraid to admit
still exist in us.
Because the truth of the matter is that many of us are still colored
And I have to say it has nothing to do with color,
but shades of old men and women rearing ugly heads from the grave
once more
to remind us of our worldly twins
who
refuse to stay drowned.
However the secret lies inside the depths of men’s hearts,
for these old men rise up because of our thirst to keep them there
in the past
when we were taught to reverence their forefathers
instead of our own tribes
when we were soldiers
when we were toddlers
back in the day…
when we were colored.
Rest
I wanna turn off my brain. Not completely, just enough to gather my breath and lay it at the head of the bed….a temporary moment to which renewal finds itself back to my pillow; to which I may die, and in the same second be reborn. I want my eyes to bow in submission to my bones, and my soul to fall slowly to the contours of this mattress….and for a second pretend that the world has crumbled around me. For a second, for just a moment, let me lay my body at the foot of sleep’s doorstep, pretend to swim with the clouds, and in the same moment…. taste of rejuvenation’s delicacies.
Authors Are Readers Too
Good information on Historical Fiction!
My People Hold On – Eddie Kendricks
Late Thursday Throwback
Rachel Dolezal: A Different View
I have not yet given an opinion about the Rachel Dolezal story as of yet, though I have been posting about it and following the story like the rest of you. I have heard the testimony of Rachel’s parents and the claims that she has a mental disorder. I have heard people mention that she’s making money off of us, that she needs psychiatric help, that she’s mocking us, and that she’s wearing black face, the list goes on and on. My opinion is unlike those of the black people you’ll run into in the street. I do not hate Rachel Dolezal. I do not despise her. I think not that she’s racist or that she’s crazy. Quite frankly, I like her.
I posted a few days ago a post about how deep this story is, and if the black people out there understood that. I didn’t however, for lack of a better word, edify the post with an explanation and so I thought I’d do that real quick.
Rachel Dolezal, as we are all aware of as of now, is a white woman who has been pretending to be black for some time. She looks physically like an African American and her hair mimics a natural black hairstyle. As a “black” woman, she has been a leader in the attempt to advance the cause of black people, going far as to protest the Exodus movie because she said white people were playing the role of black people (which is true). She has done all of this under the deception that she is not white, but black. Thing is, this does not offend me. It does not offend me that she desires to identify as a so called African American to the extent of wishing she had parents who looked like them, and to the extent of wearing and dressing and fighting for their cause. She wanted to be you more than many of you want to be yourselves. What then is her crime? As a black woman did she commit a crime? Did she degrade herself? Did she jump around like an animal as a black woman or did she become the local leader of the NAACP (can I ask why you’re still calling yourselves colored people? But I digress) and a professor of African Studies at Eastern Washington University?
How many so called Black people bleach their skin and wear silky blonde weaves? How many of them have crossed the colored line for the chance to be white for the sake of opportunity? How many of us look down on dark skin and kinky hair? How many? So why then are black people emotional because a white woman pretended to be black for a chance to advance the plight of black people? I’m just saying if we’re going to be real about it be all the way real. Don’t tell a white woman she can’t wear a black hair style and excuse Beyonce for wearing a white hair style. Now, she did lie, true. And I must say I do believe she could have done more work as a white woman in the first place. But in the words of Bob Marley:
“Who are you to judge the life I live?
before you start pointing fingers…
make sure you hands are clean!”
There is so much more but let me end with this:
In a comment on whether or not she was African American, Dolezal stated:
“I don’t understand the question.”
Let me explain briefly to you black people why this statement is of such significance to you:
African and American does not define a Nationality. I use it on this blog for clarity but it is not a nation of people. African and American is just two continents put together. It is the continent of Africa and the continent of America. It says nothing to say that you are an African since Africa is a continent with over 50 countries: which of these countries can the African American claim, and which will claim you? The point is that African American does not identify someone’s nationality, their customs and traditions. In fact, prior to 1988, when Jesse Jackson coined the term African American, you were Black. Before you were Black you were Colored. Before you were Colored you were Negroes, and before this you were Niggas. Therefore, I am not offended at her statement because I don’t understand the question either. And I don’t think she’s crazy.
Now, for some laughs, since I after all love to laugh, I’m gonna lighten it up a bit. As of this post I have 478 followers of this blog. I wonder how many I’ll have by morning because of this post :).
The PBS Blog 